Twelve Christmases
by landslide-state-of-mind
Summary: Twelve Christmases in the lives of Beca and Aubrey. Pure fluff for the festive season. [Established Mitchsen and a surprise pairing toward the end.]


Beca Mitchell was a woman of many secrets. She kept a lot of things to her chest and preferred to keep people at a distance. Over time she began to warm to the Bellas, sharing little parts of herself. A lot of those pieces went first to Chloe, and later to Cynthia Rose. But as she grew more comfortable sharing herself, she allocated more and more of the pieces to, surprisingly, Aubrey.

The thing between them was a shock for everyone, themselves included. But it was real, and it was strong. Sure the pair of them were hard headed and stubborn, but they loved each other as fiercely as they did anything else, which said a lot. Beca felt completely okay giving her pieces to Aubrey, even the ones that nobody else knew about.

One such piece was that Beca wasn't a fan of the holidays. It was all pinned on a family history that included her father abandoning her and her mother the day before Christmas when she was five. Aubrey had held her in bed on their first Christmas together as the brunette had told her about the years after that where a young Beca Mitchell would stay awake all night on Christmas Eve, not to hear telltale sleigh bells, but instead straining to hear the footsteps of her father coming home. Only they never came. So as much as she and her mother tried to make it a good time, they normally exchanged gifts well before Christmas and treated the day like any other. When her mother had passed when she was seventeen, she didn't celebrate the holiday at all that year.

Aubrey had cried as she'd heard that story. As strained as her relationship was with her own family, they'd always managed to make Christmas a nice occasion, or at least they had until they cut her off. The thought of a tiny little brunette kid curled up under the covers waiting for a dad that was never showing up made her heart ache. On their second Christmas together, Aubrey had pulled back on the more festive aspects of the holiday. They did exchange gifts, and there was a small tree in a corner of her living room, but they ate delivered Chinese food and had a Harry Potter marathon. When Aubrey finally dragged Beca into bed, the brunette wrapped her arms around her and whispered a thank you into her hair as they fell asleep.

And Beca did appreciate it, really, but she didn't want Aubrey to have to forgo the Christmas she was used to just because she had a shitty childhood. So for their third Christmas together, she'd enlisted Chloe's help. Chloe had grown up helping to cook Christmas dinner for the extensive Beale clan. So Beca spent the weeks leading up to Christmas learning how to bake gingerbread men and sugar cookies. She learned how to calculate how long to cook a turkey for, how to stuff it – which was fucking gross – and how to make cranberry sauce. Aubrey had come home from work the day before Christmas Eve to a house that smelled like baking, and she was surprised. Then she saw that Beca had decorated her apartment, switched the smaller tree for a bigger one. The brunette had met her with a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies, and she immediately began to tear up.

On Christmas morning, Aubrey woke alone. She made her way into the kitchen and saw Beca already prepping Christmas lunch with Chloe's help. The blonde had cried when Beca explained that part of her Christmas present was dinner with the Bellas, and again when she explained that she could do the big, fancy Christmas if Aubrey wanted it.

For their fourth Christmas together, Aubrey had suggested that they meet somewhere in the middle. They didn't have to do the massive lunch with everyone they'd ever met, and they didn't have to try and hide from the holiday as it snuck by. So they spent Christmas Eve baking sugar cookies together and had their delivered Chinese dinner. The next day they had a much smaller meal all on their own, downing a bottle of wine as the crappy weather raged outside. They were entwined together on the couch, Beca stroking Aubrey's hair as music played. The lights flickered after some particularly rough thunder, and then they went out all together.

Being Aubrey Posen, though, she had a plan in place for such occasions, and they retired back to the bedroom, lit by camping lantern. There was a sly joke from Beca about having nothing to do in the dark, before Aubrey gave her something to do. Afterwards, Aubrey had the smaller girl in her arms and murmured that she hadn't had a Christmas this good in her whole life. Beca had agreed and said that she hoped they could keep the things they did as their tradition for many Christmases to come.

On their fifth Christmas, Beca had only slightly strayed from their plan from last year. They had both dressed up for their standard Chinese food, some wine and they danced. Aubrey loved it, but she eventually asked Beca why they were dressed up if they were just staying home. The brunette had produced a ring from somewhere and said that she wanted to spend all Christmases with Aubrey, forever. Aubrey didn't respond for a full minute out of shock, but she accepted the ring from her with a kiss. They spent that Christmas Day inside a blissful little bubble, moving from bed to kitchen to shower to bed and not talking to anybody but each other.

Their sixth Christmas was hard. They were in North Carolina with all of Aubrey's family. Her father had suffered a heart attack and the day passed them by as they paced the hospital corridors waiting for news on his condition. When they finally heard that he was stable, Aubrey allowed Beca to take her back to the Posen home and curl up with her under a thick blanket to try and get some sleep. They managed a few hours of restless slumber until they were awoken and told that Aubrey's father had taken a turn and that they best get back to the hospital. Beca was sure she managed to violate a large number of driving laws, but she did get Aubrey back to her father's bedside before he passed away in the early hours of Boxing Day.

Their seventh Christmas together was spent unpacking boxes in their new house. They'd been married just over a month now and, after a luxurious honeymoon in the not-so-frozen New Caledonia, they still had barely moved themselves in. The house was a present from Aubrey's mother, aided generously by her husband's estate. The man had been oddly fond of Beca, for some reason. Aubrey's mother Caroline reasoned that so few people were able to stand up to Aubrey and then charm their way out of danger with a wink and a smile, and it had tickled him somewhat. So their Christmas Day was spent amidst brown boxes and tape, Chloe and Stacie dropping by in the afternoon with food and a bottle of wine, and to lend a hand with furniture placement and relocation.

Their eighth Christmas together was back at the Posen family home. And the day itself hadn't been particularly memorable, nor the food. But it had marked a big decision for the two of them. Upon watching Beca play with her older brother's young children – a pair of boys aged five and tow – she had propositioned the idea of having their own family to the other woman for the first time. It was late on Christmas Eve, but Beca had wanted to talk about it extensively, so they'd retired to the sitting room nearest their bedroom with cups of coffee, curled up close to each other to talk. Beca had concerns about her parenting abilities, but after Aubrey had explained that it was teamwork and something you can't really judge until you're doing it, Beca had admitted that she really did like the idea of kids. By the time they finished talking, it was almost four in the morning on Christmas Day and they slept late, missing breakfast, but not caring.

Their ninth Christmas was the first of their own family Christmases. Aubrey had given birth to little Hayden John at the start of November. Even though the infant was too small to have any awareness of what was going on around him, they both took great joy in making the most of their baby's first Christmas. Beca cooked for the two of them and they'd huddled together next to the tree trying to take a family portrait where Hayden at least had his eyes open. Eventually they snapped one, their son looking somewhat toward the camera Beca had been operating remotely. The two of them, however, were mid-laugh and looking at each other, and they agreed that it turned out better than any standard portrait they could have taken.

Their tenth Christmas was again a family affair, but with one major surprise. Chloe had shown up - they'd expected her – but with a ring on her finger. They'd heard bits and pieces over the year about the mystery person making their best friend so happy, but hadn't been able to catch up with her since Hayden had been born. So, when they looked past Chloe and saw Stacie, it didn't register immediately. But then Aubrey saw the way Chloe clutched Stacie's hand, the smile on her face. She put two and two together and realized that their two best friends were clearly a hell of a lot more than friends. Then the four of them had toasted with champagne and spent the night eating left overs and playing with their newly-walking son.

Their eleventh Christmas was quiet, thankfully. Aubrey was heavily pregnant with baby number two, so Beca had done all the decorating and shopping and cooking on her own, toting Hayden with her. Their boy was a curious and intelligent little boy with long hair that Aubrey would love to at least trim, but Hayden was terrified of the very idea of a haircut. Beca kind of like it though. It curled out a little at the ends, and coupled with his blue eyes – courtesy of their sperm donor – he was a total charmer. They opened their presents as a family Christmas Eve for a change, and spent most of the next day camped out in bed, the two adults snoozing, or reading, Hayden watching his new movies or playing with blocks or cars just next to them on the floor. Then two days later, Beca had taken Hayden to pick up a part of his present – they were adopting a dog from a local shelter. The boy had fallen in love with a well mannered four year old Beagle named Duke, and they'd brought him home that day.

Christmas number twelve was their first with two children. Emma Madeleine had been due on New Years Day but had made her mommy wait uncomfortably until the sixth to make an appearance. Hayden was enamored with his little sister, and in turn she was fascinated by everything he did. Chloe and Stacie were down for the holidays, married in the fall, as well as Aubrey's mother. Caroline helped Beca cook, the kids were spoiled and fussed over by every adult in attendance, and Duke was dressed in a holiday collar. When Stacie and Chloe had gone to their hotel and Caroline to the guest room, Beca and Aubrey checked on their two sleeping children and went to bed. Aubrey curled into the shape of Beca's body. Beca remembered out loud that she didn't even used to like Christmas. She talked about each of the Christmases they had spent together, noting that they weren't all necessarily happy or exuberant, but that in twelve years she'd managed to go from not even celebrating Christmas to loving Christmas day with her family. Aubrey wiped a stray tear from her eye, kissed her, and promised she'd make every Christmas one worth remembering.


End file.
